connell is so low today. connell: good morning, everybody. i am connell mcshane. patty murray says she is ready to play hardball when it comes to higher taxes on the rich. tim geithner on his way out. the choice to replace him, though, they say a lot about how the president plans to deal with wall street. the petraeus scandal deepening today. what the general knew about the benghazi attacks and when he knew it. we will talk with mike baker about that. bye-bye twinkie. how the unions may kill one of the countries most famous stacks. we will have that from dennis kneale. stocks now as we do every 15

minutes. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole: we are in a moment of silence here on the floor of the new york stock exchange. we have down arrows. i will wait another few seconds before i continue. it is veterans day. that is our second moment of silence. the first was before the opening bell. we are seeing down arrows across the board. the dow jones industrials are down 25 points right now. we did not expect the moment of silence. sorry i made you wait. travelers, caterpillar and coca-cola have been coming under pressure. we want to take a look at one name that has been a big later, that is jcpenney. jcpenney has been lagging for

years. it was in $82 stock back in 2007. en bloc friday they will be opening early. it is against their new mantra. ron johnson came over from apple. he was not big on sales. they are breaking their mold. back to you. connell: the commemoration of veterans day at the new york stock exchange. this comment is getting a lot of attention today. bill kristol made an appearance on fox news sunday and he talked about the debate over the bush tax cuts. take a listen. >> leadership in the republican party and considered it a movement has to back. let's have a serious debate. it will not go the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires. connell: let's go to the forbes opinion editor with us now from d.c. it will not kill the country.

>> let's just hope the leadership does not follow his advice. soon enough, they will be the minority party if they do this. republicans be the rich and poor eventually think they will get rich and they do not like the idea of penalties in terms of taxes waiting for them. we are the beneficiaries in this country of the vital viewed. the last thing you want to do in this economy is raise the price of their productivity. connell: i find that very interesting of a response. you are saying they would be in the minority party if they go along with his advice which is essentially to let the taxes go up on $1 million or more instead of to 50,000. does the party take the blame for that and isn't that a bigger

risk, politically? >> i do not think so. let's look at what happened on tuesday. they get the republicans in the house of representatives. that was their way of trying to say we want you to remain in control here. if the republicans pull back and raise taxes, they will pay for it in a big way in 2014. connell: what if they allow revenues to go off in another way? broaden the base of people who pay taxes and then close some of these loopholes and that that you bring in more revenue. would that be acceptable? >> we do not have a revenue problem. if the republicans compromise as

in a lower income tax rates, -- connell: less than 50 days until this so-called fiscal cliff. what do you think is likely to happen? it could be no deal at all, you go over the cliff or some sort of a deal where they kick the can down the road and some way, shape or form. >> my guess is they will be extended through january 1 and then negotiate in the new year. connell: all right, john. always great to see you. to the economics. senior economist at wells fargo. how do you see this? >> i am afraid we will at least slide a little bit over the cliff.

there are four elements to the fiscal cliff that are absolutely going to happen. the social security tax. the new healthcare taxes as they go along with obamacare or so affordable care act. federal funding will end. all of that together. it is 100% certainty that that will happen. connell: that is actually a very good point to bring up those issues. you paint this picture that it is not like pushing grandma over the cliff. we are calling to the edge of the cliff. what does it mean for the economy. what kind of a deal can only reach? >> it certainly is a

possibility. we do not have that in our outlook. we have growth in the first quarter. see. what do you assume to do that? >> we assume we will get some compromise on taxes. obama getting reelected, we are likely to see a tax increase. we will let the tax cuts expire, they will reinstate them after the first of the year. they will technically be voting for a tax cut rather than a tax increase. maybe it is over 250, i am not as optimistic as i used to be. connell: we are all trying to put odds on what they will do.

for someone who looks at these issues, especially the economic issues, give me a realistic suggestion as to what they should do. and something that could get done that would be a reasonable compromise to keep the economy and the best case. >> i agree with your previous guest. the best solution would be to reduce marginal tax rates and broaden the base. everything that is good in the economy happens at the margin. if you lower the marginal tax rate, you are lowering the barrier to increase economic act committee. if you raise about marginal tax rate, you still have a higher power. it is really that simple. that is how i look at it. there are other economists and they would say oh, no, it does not work that way. the economy does not respond to incentives.

that seems to the way it has been. connell: willing to over the cliff. a lot of people seem to pick up on the fact that the president did not speak about rates. >> i noticed that in his remarks. the one thing that really troubled me, i think the compromise may be, well, wait a minute, we are raising the social security tax. we want to raise taxes elsewhere. i think it is important -- we should not have to compromise on any of that. let's work on the other issues, such as the sequester which will be very hard to put off. would we have high margin tax rates, it is a tax on genius.

it is a tax on entrepreneurship. we do not want to do that. connell: very difficult to do. thank you. let's hope they figure it out before the last minute. we will be painfully talking about it up until the end of the year. thank you. >> good to be with you. connell: the and for the twinkie. a union strike stopping production for one of america's most famous streets, possibly forever. the next treasury secretary. what the relationship to the president will be with wall street in the second term. all of that is coming up on markets now. one of the markets just under $86 for a barrel of crude oil. ♪ fromurrency trading for a few

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call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock protection risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder ee-- but only if you act right now. call the nber on your screen now! connell: we would get to the big story about twinkies. there is more trouble for the bankrupt twinkie maker. thousands of its workers and plants are striking. dennis dennis kneale is here with the latest.

dennis: a strike at hostess then kill the treat. the hostess friend has a wide spread -- hostess ceo is supposed to be coming on our show on the 3:00 o'clock hour to talk to me about this. he says he will shut down the bakers strike. the bakers hanging tough and threatened to shut down the entire company because of it. connell: that will happen in the 3:00 o'clock hour. dennis: around 3:30 p.m., if we can get him. connell: let's go back to nicole at the stock exchange. nicole: we are looking at celgene. it is up about 5%.

it has been up 9%. we are looking at celgene because a clinical trial of a drug that is used to treat lung cancer improved the survival in patients of pancreatic cancer. they did not delve into how much it helped that survival rate. they will do so inna medical meeting in january. i am sure this january we will be talking about celgene. don't say we didn't tell you here on the fox business network. the major averages were down 28%. bank and drug stocks are coming under pressure. oil and gold are coming back. connell: the next person that the president put on the dollar bill or allows to sign it will also defined what the president relationship is with wall street. we will be talking about that next. senator patty murray says she is ready to go over the fiscal

cliff if it means higher taxes on the rich. what about that? we will be talking more about it as we continue with markets now. a look at currency and how everyone is shaping up against the dollar. the local americansre always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they'vbeen committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the stngth of a globalinancial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪

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>> at 20 minutes past the hour, i have their fox news unit. a mortar shell from syria. an open area near a different post. soldiers then launched tank shells confirming direct hits. some syrians were injured during the conflict. authorities are still trying to figure out what caused the massive explosion in indianapolis that killed two people over the weekend. if forced to other people from that area. at least two dozen homes damaged by flying debris. the affects of sandy lingers tens of thousands still without any power. frustrated residents there. protesting the long island power authority saying it is unacceptable. they should have 99% power

restored by tomorrow. back to connell. connell: a big decision coming for the president. he will have to pick a new treasury secretary. that decision, whoever he picks to replace tim geithner, it could tell us a lot about him. the president and ceo at the american thinker association joins us now. former clinton chief of staff or -- >> since i do not have a choice, i do not think i can speculate. those are good names. simpson had a lot of similar ideas two hours. jack lu is a very capable person as well.

the senate will confirm who have experienced. knows how to make loans and make deposits. someone will set it for the economy to remains the richest in the world. look at sedatives and education system in the country to encourage americans can be employed and remained employed throughout their entire lives. this is a huge selection. we need someone to be the economic spokesman for all. connell: who are you talking about jamie dimon the stock someone to run a big bank, is that what you are suggesting? >> somebody who has a commercial background.

hopefully there is a short list if mr. geithner will back out. financial oversight civility council, this european contractor could really cripple lending and community banks from c to shining sea. all of these things need to be debated in the next six months. a treasury secretary who really knows how to make things happen is the guy we need. connell: isn't it -- when you can see that it is politically difficult for the president to pick somebody, somebody with a wall street like background.

>> of course there are a lot of things in this country. some very good banks like jpmorgan under jamie dimon. there are some very well run. very well managed. these are all the credentials, hopefully, that will go into the mix. that person should be able to set an agenda, have the full free hand of the president to follow that agenda and to make changes necessary. we are not growing and this is not sufficient. connell: whoever he picks whether it is lew or bowles, they will not pull back on things like dodd-frank or things like that? >> dodd-frank was passed largely by democrats alone. i have talked to democrats embers of the house and senate who do agree that there needs to be some changes. 9000 pages to propose the final rules as we speak.

it is under the gun. the average community bank has 35 employees. how do they respond to 9000 pages of regulation. dennis boswell three -- these are serious matters. fix it. grow the economy. connell: thank you, as always, sir. >> thank you, connell. connell: republicans still say they are shocked that betty romney did not come out on top last week. how did they go so wrong with the numbers? we will talk about that. one senator ready to go over the fiscal cliff if there are not higher taxes on the risk. plus, today's winners as they

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tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call 1-866-294-5409 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and a global specialist connell: back on market now. which numbers were the republican talking about? why they thought the way they did. that is coming up. ready to jump over the fiscal cliff if the only way to get there is to not have higher taxes on the rich. then the petraeus scandal. a misstep by his mistress. big news on the former cia agent mike baker here to analyze it

all for us. it is the bottom of the hour. stocks now every 15 minutes. nicole: i am going to bring you over to jeffries at a moment did i want to take a look at the market first. dow jones industrials are down about 18 points. we are still well below 13,000. the s&p 500, 1400 was so crucial and holding 1390 and 1380 and here we are at 1378. where are the balls to step in and scoop it all up? it was on some heavier volume. we are waiting for that big turnaround. we do have mergers and acquisitions to talk about this monday. let's take a look at jeffries. it is up about 12% today. leucadia owns 28% stake in jeffries. that is why you are seeing the stock popping.

it is getting some new highs today, as well. the highest point today was $17.32. back to you. connell: the republicans, some of them, still apparently shellshocked. many people felt going in that this romney would come out on top. the question remains. where were they getting this confidence from perfect 538, the "new york times" now more famous blog than ever. 90% chance on election day that the president would win. that is somewhat extreme. other places that a markets with a 60%-70%. i have been waiting to talk to you about this for a week. this is true, right, romney was shellshocked. >> the 2008 turnout model which had six or 7% more democrats than republicans would not

repeat itself. republicans would be up presumably in democrats down and romney would when. connell: why? >> here is why, people did not want to believe that the obama turnout with it more than the republicans. the governor would win, it was worth putting hope over logic. the numbers suggested what you said, people ignore them. connell: all years they suggested that. a lot of people have come on during the last week and made broad statements about what the election means and how republicans are supposed to respond. here is the chart. pretty consistent all year long. he was the favorite. if the romney campaign has done

a better job and knew what the reality was, they could have one. >> they needed a positive message. you do not beat an incumbent with an alternative narrative. if you watch the debate, governor romney was cautious. he did not want to take on libya. he did not want to differentiate himself from the president. he thought he was. connell: have you ever been involved in something similar or a situation like this where the polling was different publicly versus internally or you had to speak truth to a candidate that thought they were in a different situation than they thought they were back in 1982, i worked for mayor ed koch he ran against mario cuomo. he was not doing that well when he ran for governor. he thought he would be nominated.

though polls show that he would lose. i made it very clear that he would not win. while it was an awkward position to be in, he wrote me a note saying he does not blame the messenger. connell: that is very high praise for the poster. your job is to tell the truth. >> you want to be as cautious as possible. a progrowth agenda, inclusiveness and a recognition unless the party is a broad tent that encompasses the diversity of america, they cannot win. connell: last week was a good week for your kind. four numbers and pollsters. >> absolutely. we live to fight another day. connell: she could be the next chair in the budget committee. senator patty murray.

the scandal over petraeus. we have a former cia, agent mike baker coming on here to be for the top the hour of market now. keep it right here. we will be right back. ♪

>> i have your fox business brief. airlines in the u.s. could be facing the most serious pilot shortage since the 1960s. that is according to the "wall street journal."

it could create a huge problem for the industry. meanwhile -- several new flavors being added to its own beverage carbonation system. it has entered into a licensing agreement with campbell soup. here is another way to help the victims of sandy. donate your unused vacation days. they have reactivated a benefit allowing workers are participating firms to give up vacation days. they will turn those into a tax-exempt group. that is the latest from the fox business group. giving you the power to prosper. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen anjeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they' gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission.

they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. connell: news alert for you on the fiscal cliff and markets. securing tax hikes on the rich. senator patty murray says go over the cliff if you have to.

we have to make sure that the wealthiest americans pay their fair share. if the republicans will not agree with that, we will reach a point at the end of this year where all the tax cuts expire and we will start over next year. founder of cumberland advisors is here. >> we do not know how this plays out. the charade, the parties, dysfunctional washington continues. there is a good reason to invest. we do not talk about it because we are busy on the fiscal cliff. monetary policy predictable for years. thoughthat is the driver for investing. connell: bernanke and company stay in place. a similar strategy even when he leaves, if you lease, will be put in place.

how do you balance that? >> the monetary thing is clear whether bernanke lease and is replaced. it is his policy. the fiscal thing is much more difficult. what is the worst case? we race cassis, slow economic growth -- connell: put us back in recession, by the way. >> i do not think it will be bad as others like to think. we may go the whole decade with a zero short-term interest rate and a long-term interest rate at 1.5%. connell: the stock market goes up no matter what? >> assets rise when real rates

are zero or negative. that is where they are. that is where they will be for a while, connell. connell: you are saying, with some certainty, it sounds like, that the stock market remains. >> you have to choose. we diversify around the market. we do it in the rest of the world to. we are very heavily and bonds. that is a yield tax-free above the treasury yield. this will be this sunday in my lifetime, i hope. connell: you must be worried about something. that this all comes crashing down at some point. >> i am worried about the day we stop worrying. i love the worry. things will be okay.

as a matter of fact, i think a lot better. connell: thank you. good to see you. >> thank you. connell: shifting gears to a story that is, well, quite frankly or important than what we have been talking about. residents in this area, far rockaway queens that are running on fumes. they will likely have to wait until after thanksgiving for heat and power to be restored. elizabeth macdonald has been all over this. >> that is right. we passed a number of national guard trucks going in with paramedics on a search and rescue mission to get people out of their homes. the majority of homes in this area are without power, connell. we are in a community of first responders of an 11. this happens to be the anniversary of when that jumbo -@jet crash after 9/11.

this church is running an operation to give donations to people who are in desperate need as it turns chilly and damp out here. people are using debris out of the streets to burn in their fireplaces. we saw people using surfboards. we are standing here with john brown who is running this operation. >> my reaction is it is a song that took us by surprise. we are so used to different type of storms hit that often times people do not evacuate. i think people got a little apathetic and we did not evacuate and it overtook us quickly. i am not surprised at the response of the people. the people in this neighborhood are very resilient. they do come back and help each other.

>> how laypeople are you serving daily? >> fiveeand 10,000 people daily. this all started with a small group of young woman coming to me and asking if we could start a clothing drive. it ended up very large. >> we will be here with you throughout the day. connell, we will be delivering live updates on the situation at pearl harbor. they did all of this on the old and for themselves. connell: it is sad to see them go through it so many years later. great job by you. at a quarter till the hour, let's go to stocks now as we do every 15 minutes. nicole: we are talking about best buy. a chief financial adviser from

williams sonoma is getting back into the game. take a look at how best buy stock is faring on this news. the ceo said anyone who has spent time working on a company to turn it around knows that few things matter more than having a world-class chief financial officer who has experience. that is what he is saying that sharon has. she will be the new chief financial officer over at best buy. stepping in and trying to turn this whole thing around. back to you. connell: thank you. to the petraeus affair. now being tied into the attacks in benghazi. we will talk about that. mike baker is coming off. our cia expert who we talk about all the time. let's look at some of the winners today that we are seeing on the nasdaq. ♪

ally bank. why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

connell: we are back on markets now and we are going to talk about this david petraeus story. the former cia director's recognition came just days before he was scheduled to testify on the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. we bring mike baker on.

former cia officer. he joins us all the time to talk about issues and everything else. the possible disclosure of classified information came from fox news reporting this morning. that is obviously a big deal. what about the benghazi hearings. >> i think we will still hear from petraeus. the talk, washington loves a good conspiracy. i think the idea that somehow the timing of this, of his resignation and if archer, was to prevent him from testifying on the hill. that is a little bit of nonsense. he will be summoned to the hill and he will testify. in fact, if you are a cia director, you want to be up on

the hill. you want to highlight the brave actions. that is the reason why we do not have more casualties or in fact all the people in the consulate were not taken hostage. the actions of a few lately armed reactions of cia personnel. connell: the way this has been handled, that the fbi was investigating over the summer, that we just found out about it with the public, basically right after the election, you were in the cia, i am sure you have never seen anything quite like this, but you have certainly seen investigations. what about the way it has been handled? >> unfortunately, you see a lot of issues like this. the fbi will get involved. that is what they do. the fbi is called and whether it is something like this or a counter intelligence issue. they will do their

investigation. this investigation went on for months, apparently. very quickly they would have made that connection to petraeus. it started out with harassing e-mails to a woman peered we do a lot of forensic investigations. you sift through e-mails very quickly. let's wrap it up before we ever go to head of justice to tell her what we are doing. that part is really inconceivable. it really divides all believe that they would wait all of this time and then the day of the election tell james clapper about it and he would go to the day the election to tell the president that part of it. it makes everyone scratch their heads. connell: clapper was essentially petraeus is boss. i just was thinking even, their

words delete e-mail accounts that broad will set up. should the director of the cia, should he have -- isn't that kind of dangerous? >> as soon as they identify the petraeus angle, yes, then it becomes a national security issue. you do not know where it could go. you have to assume there could be a counter intelligence issue. you have to analyze that. that is why, again, it seems a little odd for them to know how this idea. washington is all about covering your backside. you know, image days of j edgar hoover, he would use it as leverage. that is not the way it works. connell: exactly. you are right to raise the issue

of timing, which many others have. mike, always good to see you. thanks a lot. >> thanks a lot. connell: homebuilders stumbling a bit. that is the subject of the trade today. here is sandra smith. sandra: you are looking out one-15% losses across the board for the major homebuilders. if you look at their year-to-date performance, this is not character to what we have seen so far in 2012. the dow jones etf of homebuilders, up 70% so far this year. the s&p homebuilders etf, up more than 50% this year. homebuilders have been on a tear. we have a couple earnings reports out today that are definitely disappointing. these are homes. this year it is up double

digits. look at this intraday loss of 15%. connell, the reason analysts are saying these stocks are a bite on this bad news today, they reported a wider than expected loss on the first quarter, the fundamentals are still good. orders for new homes up 10%. there were high expectations. stocks taking a hit. i still say they are a five. connell: there is more ahead. we are just getting started. cheryl casone and dennis neal will take over straight ahead. plus, the unions killing the twinkie. dennis will have the story. markets now continues in a moment. ♪ looking for a better place to put your cash? here's o you may not have thought of -- fidelity.

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>> i'm dennis kneale. >> hello, i'm cheryl casone. at noon eastern time, it is the devils idevil's in the details. both isles are talking again to avert the fiscal cliff but it always comes down to politics. dennis: and what the general knew about the benghazi attacks and when he knew it. cheryl: the union killing the twinkie, why hostess may be forced to end production of the iconic treat. it is the top of the hour, nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. they're kind of hopeful with the market, now we are down in the dumps, what is going on? nicole: you're not seeing the buyers stepping up. people are saying this is a great buying point. on the contrary, people are trying to define a level of stability where we stay in a range.

you don't want to catch a falling knife. so if you see selling and you see breaking the key support levels, you wait to the next support level and then if it breaks through that, you wait for the next one. it requires patience as well, but not too far off the unchanged line. stating, so that is a good sign, seeing the dow and the s&p down one-tenth of 1% like nasdaq composite. a great performer today, turns out that a couple of their jobs along with the standard treatment actually cheered when hundred% of patients with hepatitis c over the four weeks mid-stage trial. dennis: the white house is ready to spend the rest of the week lobbying to raise taxes on people making over $250,000 combined with spending cuts.

and republican so room for compromise. >> look, i am optimistic, i think there is a basis deal. there's a way to get there on the revenue side. the real question is can they come to terms and entitlement side? speaker you can settle every detail in the next few weeks. what you can do is agree on a framework agreement. dennis: joining us as "wall street journal" washington bureau chief. take a look at what conservative commentator says on that same show. "it won't kill the country if we raised taxes on millionaires." i was in the first signs in actual compromise? are the republicans beginning to soften? >> i think republicans have thee softened a little bit and gives them a bit of a compromise but there is leadership and there is follower ship. they are signaling a way out of this box. we want a way out of the box by coming to an agreement that says

rich people, wealthy americans will send taxes without the taxes being raised. cannot make it happen last year. there are two issues, the republicans look over their shoulders and see if people in the house caucu house caucus inr are willing to follow along with they will consider that to be a backdoor tax increase. people will say to themselves look, you won the election, president obama, with a pretty strong majority in the electoral college. we campaigned on a platform that said tax rat rates should be rad for the wealthy. so that is what we will dig in and demand. as you say, the first signs are pretty good. dennis: much of the focus is on the raise tax rates on the rich over 250,000. bringing in $80 billion or more per year in spending $1.1 trillion more in a year than we take in revenue.

why so much focus on $80 on 1100? aren't we kind of missing the point? >> the point is being missed in a lot of ways. the bigger point is you have to move beyond just result in this particular dispute about what the top tax rate ought to be. everybody will tell you that, the question is how do you get there? you have to deal with entitlements as well with taxes. this is a two parts deal. what got lost last year was more agreement on doing something as potentially tough things and entitlement like for example raising the eligibility age for medicare than was commonly realized. you have to make that part of the package as well. whether you can do all that before the first of the year or make a down payment is a real question. dennis: if we let all the tax rates go up in january the economy shrinks in the first quarter. if we let the tax cuts continue, the economy grows 1.5%, so is

this really about economic growth, more macho versus macho? >> ultimately it has to be about economic growth for both parties. if the economic growth and deficit reduction and that you found a magic formula that allows you to do both of those things. that is what is tricky about this. that is what i don't think they will go off the fiscal cliff, by the way. everybody will get the point they realize they don't want to be the first quarter fix your taking responsibility for creating a double dip recession. that is a scary prospect for anybody, particularly a politic in washington. dennis: good job, thank you very much. cheryl: our next guest says the deal isn't made, going over the cliff could be a short-term death for the market. it is good to see you, but you are very concerned about the fiscal cliff. you have been defensive all year, i do know that. but what about today, what about

now? >> i am defensive, but we are still watching the market, we choose to have. it is going to be a choppy market until there is some resolution. earnings season for the third quarter hasn't been all that great, the fourth quarter may be overshadowed by discussions on the fiscal cliff. the market could be in for a tough ride the next few months. cheryl: last week and they all lost about 2% on the week. the nasdaq now down five weeks consecutive. a lot of selling last week with dividend paying stocks, investors were very nervous about what happens if the tax goes up over 40%. what do you tell your clients now? >> we're still buying dividend paying stocks. if you look at what kind of dividend stocks you are buying. look at utilities and telecoms, both companies are not grown the dividend very much looked at as a bond type income play.

if you look at growth income, companies still growing the earnings with a potential to increase the dividend payouts, those companies should do fine. what type of companies paying dividends you own and financial planning purposes you can shift those stocks are located and kind of avoid -- cheryl: mentioned specific type of sectors. i want to get into one sector in particular, health care. that is a bet that he made that you are sticking with. kind of a split on how the companies, the medical device makers sold off, et cetera, et cetera. what do you feel about those? >> we're still overweight health care. some industries in health care that will be good. also pharmaceuticals should benefit because there will be an increase in the amount of people covered by insurance. ones that do not do so well, the medical device makers will be

hit with a 2% tax which will put the earnings directly. health care will still grow a lot faster than the economy given that the number of insured people will be coming onto health care. cheryl: they had a cancer drug trial, incredibly successful, the stock is shooting up higher, do you like it? >> is on it is one of those coms looked at as a one product wonder, now that the company a drug in late stage testing for pancreatic cancer, which is huge. that is why the company is of huge today. a few more drugs a company has in the pipeline that will put the stock well over 10 100 of te next two or three years. cheryl: you did not take the financial hit, financials, looks like that was smart for you as well. thank you very much.

>> thank you. cheryl: businesses big and small are complained for the election of the cost of obamacare. now that the president has been reelected, how do they deal with the issue? adam shapiro is covering that story and is here right now. speak of is a big concern if obamacare, patient protection for what correct will lead to companies laying off people or not hiring people. so he called mercer, a benefits consultant going to companies and help them to benefits, and they did a survey of 1215 different employers nationwide right after the supreme court upheld obamacare, and what they found might surprise you especially if you work part-time. first, when those companies that rely on part-time workers, those who have employees working 32, 33 hours. in retail and hospitality dependent on part-time workers, 32% of the respondents are making workforce strategy changes meaning they may

actually cut the number of employees who work more than 30 hours because obamacare creates problems going forward for them. also obamacare cost increases among retail and hospitality employers. they expect cost of healt healte to go up roughly 40% or more. cheryl: one of the biggest complaints were cost would not be dealt with. >> and say they're coming out with health care costs coming down, actually. cheryl: thank you very much. dennis: coming up on what your business needs to do now to prepare for the health care loss and all the changes coming up, wwe'll talk with former deputy . h. s. secretary. cheryl: in the end for the twinkie. stopping production on the favorite street possibly forever. dennis: and as we do every day, look at oil. down again.

dennis: time to make some money with charles payne. >> my whole thing is we have to talk about russia and indonesia and peru and all that. but on the market, 12,790,

12,950, the intraday support. it is critical somehow that course of the week, otherwise we would be vulnerable 12,500. that is near term. the fear, anxiety, not getting a lot of economic data but on the flip side of that. to underscore that, one of the big deals of the day, titanium metals. it is taking over, huge premium from friday's close. they want to dominate in airplanes. they make titanium, faster airplanes. boeing last year said they will be 34,000 new plant planes buil. that is the rest of the world rocking and rolling. both of these stocks are up, titanium metals. i'm kicking myself for not being

in either of them. near-term we're under this impression, longer-term the world will be pretty good. cheryl: anything connected to boeing. charles payne, thank you very much. 15 past the hour, stocks every 15 minutes, nicole, you're watching financials, what you have? nicole: you're right, we're looking at the financials. always says there is a lightning rod in the market one way or another. when you look at these financials, they are somewhat mixed. in the market is not too far off either. you're the unchanged line. the market is trying to find some direction despite the fact we have seen the trend to the downside. there are a lot of people who still talk about the seasonal rally that you see going into the end of november and into december. but for right now traders watching some of the key levels so closely, somewhere on the s&p 500 at 1377.

back to you. gasoline still hard to come by in the new york area two weeks after super storm sandy left town. what if we told you the u.s. is about to become the world's largest oil producer? we're live at the cma. cme. cheryl: also ahead, you will not believe where the jobs are with nobody to fill them. demand for airline pilots is soaring, get it? and they're not enough applicants. crazy. dennis: and how the world currencies are faring today against the dollar.

>> 21 minutes past the hour, hello, this is your fox news minute. we're learning new jersey plans to and odd-even gas rationing 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. in limited by governor chris christie in 12 of the state's counties to ease the gas shortage following super storm sandy. methods still being used across the river in new york city and long island. still trigeminal cause a massive explosion in indianapolis killing two people over the weekend. the deafening blast leveled to

homes forcing about 200 people from the area. eyewitnesses say two dozen homes damaged by flying debris. the house will begin swearing in some of the newest members tomorrow. they will take the oath tomorrow evening while to my member slated to be sworn in later this week. the four member elects are filling the remainder of the uninspired terms. those are your headlines. back to cheryl. cheryl: thank you so much. but the president's reelection, the law of the land with the repeal movement derailed what businesses would do for health careelaw 2004 implementation. a former hs as deputy secretary. there's a lot of concern from deputies about what this health care loss going to do. especially when it comes issue of pot, is it something that can be at least dealt with in the next term of congress? >> of course cost can be dealt with, don't think this current

law, obamacare law doing anything about cost. in fact costs have gone up since the law was passed in the later projections show it will continue to increase. i think it is a real problem and understand what businesses are worried about it. cheryl: i want to bring this up conducive this is the way that business can avoid the health care. a lot of these make sense because we have had ceos said they will do the same thing. cut working hours below a the threshold, not higher, keep things under the threshold of 30. and dumped employees on these changes. the last point of dumping them into the exchanges, doesn't that make the most sense for businesses to handle this in a legal sense? >> first two points of being under 50 employees and under 30 hours for the employees are options for small businesses that will help small businesses stay under the restrictions the new obamacare would put in place for health care. the third option is only for larger businesses.

at&t spends $2.2 billion annually on health care, they don't employees, tcome it woulde 600 million. cheryl: thank you for cracked me on those. many businesses, there's an issue of no growth. we will continue into next year. do you think businesses have enough on the side of lobby groups in washington, do you think those groups can have a voice and will anybody be listening considering the result of the election last week? >> look, with obamacare the clear path to repeal are never gone. since john roberts on the court case and the election case, but 30 republican governors, they are vital to creating a state run exchanges. the obama administration can't just ignore republican ideas, they have to have a conversation about ways to fix the obamacare legislation or reform it so it actually will work.

right now it is slated not to work and be a bigger mess. cheryl: 2014 is not very far away. the states are not prepared with these exchanges. what are you hearing? >> i am hearing that. one of the reasons is the obama administration was waiting until after the election to go forward with the regulations telling states how to go forward. politico has a piece talking about how there will be the regulations not only affecting the states and how they run their exchanges but also affecting businesses and specifically the insurers and how they can prepare products that will be salable, so waiting on the regulations of a political purpose will not help getting the law implemented in a clear and clean way. cheryl: want to ask about the issue of medical device makers and that new tax coming, that hit a lot of stocks last week. we watched it on the business side, but what do you make of that? >> obviously a disapprove, don't

think we need more taxes or more fees, we have to get to a market-driven health care system and i would like to see it done in a bipartisan way. one more problem in a problematic piece of legislation. cheryl: thank you very much for your analysis. appreciate it. dennis: the petraeus scandal, coverage of the career ending affair for the cia director, and what he knew about the benghazi attacks and when he knew it. cheryl: and pictures of gas lines across northeast so fresh, some good news. the u.s. about to become the world's largest oil producer. we're live at the cme. dennis: a look at the days s&p winners and losers. from 17 billion chips worldwide

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dennis: the petraeus scandal. the latest, what he knew to be the truth about the benghazi attacks and when he knew it. take that, the u.s. about two sockets to the mideast to become the world's top oil producer. and when union strikes kill the twinkie? why hostess could have to shut down production forever. cheryl: first it is 30 past the hour. stocks every 15 minutes. nicole, what are you watching? nicole: you say hostess i think twinkie. i know you're following that story closely. major market averages to the downside. names making news on their own, research in motion the parent of blackberry. new blackberry 10 on its way finally, with the stock jumping but clearly we have seen blackberry come under significant pressure. intense competition from the iphone and others.

in a turnaround try to have a mantra of sales all the time. that has been up about 42%. a lot of the homebuilders have down arose. these are homes down over 10% all day long. the u.s. dollar has been virtually flat. oil and gold are pulling back some, trying to get a fill the market not too far off the unchanged line, after some selling with scene. back to you. cheryl: thank you very much, we will see you 40 minutes from now. the petraeus scandal deepens. questions about his resignation, specifically whether classified information was revealed by the general's mistress. griffin joining us for the pentagon.

great reporting, jennifer, what do you know? >> we have been looking at this from denver, colorado. in that speech questions were really raised afterwards about whether he may have revealed information that she only would have known about the benghazi investigation, and commission it hadn't been revealed publicly commend commissioner smith got in from david petraeus himself. at the speech in denver, the same day by the way as fox news reports request of help were denied, she said this. >> i don't know a lot of you have heard this, but the cia had taken a couple of libyan militia members prisoners, and they they think attacking the consulate was an effort to get the prisoners back to that is still being vetted. >> being vetted by whom? that was not in any official timelines that we receive. information on the attack on the u.s. consulate was in part a

strike against the cia operation, which we now know involved holding and interrogating prisoners. cheryl: what have you and adam housley learned about what was going on at the cia annex? >> we originally reported based on conversation with sources in touch with them that night that the cia contractor contracted three prisoners who handed over to the libyan authorities when they fled and gutsy. we never knew they were released or what they were. now that they were held in the annex, more than just more than libyan members held and interrogated, according to sources the cia contractors have been using that area as a place to interrogate other prisoners from north africa and the middle east.

the cia denies this thing the cia has not had detention authority since january 2009 when president obama signed executive order 13491, the cia claims any suggestions that they are uninformed and baseless, but a super source confirms the libyan militia men being held at the cia in benghazi may have been a possible motive for the staged attack on the consulate which we now know the diplomatic facility in name only. cheryl: not a video. so many videos. thank you very much. appreciate it. dennis: questions about the only time in handling, matt welch, editor in chief of "reason" magazine joining us now. what do you think is a simple most important question arising out of the latest scandal? >> i want to know why david

petraeus told members of congress around the same time broadwell is giving a speech in colorado that he thought it was a spontaneous demonstration against a video. they're pretty credible reporting from fox and other news outlets and other people that this didn't look a spontaneous, it looks bland, 120 people who had shoulder launching mortar and all this other stuff. what is going on between all these different interagency kind of turf wars and competing allegations. dennis: do you think he was choosing himself to put out the story or a story of a white house told him to say? >> i can't imagine david petraeus will tell the story the white house told him to say. at the same time we are doing with the ultimate war situation right now. the run-up to presidential election, fbi versus cia versus state department, so it is unclear. two weeks ago there was a report in the "wall street journal"

that basically threw petraeus under the bus already. it seemed like we appoint this media centric media savvy central where he cannot give press conferences like he used to and suddenly he starts getting a lot of blame for what happened in benghazi. something fishy is afoot. i matter of conspiracy, a matter of treating all these claims with an aggressive skepticism. dennis: one thing is benghazi. what do you think about the element of this is a second major scandal that popped before the election that we weren't told about the market people until after the election. is that a big issue? speak i think it is a issue in e in terms of congressional oversight. they have been spotty at best. and from all accounts by people who bee abandon some of these briefings, kind of intelligence that senators have been given has been pretty bare and skimpy.

it does not mean it still isn't scandalous, nobody was notified for all these months about the ongoing investigation of a centrist nation. dennis: we had one exchange for the woman intimate with the general gives way secret about the cia annex inventions that is where they were holding prisoners. the cia says without doing that in '09. do you believe the cia now? >> not for a second. not just because she said that, but jennifer griffin came up with reporting saying that only three of the libertarians, this compounds all of north africa. i think what we're seeing, this is important for people to remember, barack obama who made a big noise of saying i will not run the cia secret prisons, it looks like right now he has been running cia secret prisons so all kinds of elements that are exploding at once.

dennis: even democrats are calling for further investigation of senator feinstein. thank you for being with us, matt welch. >> thank you. cheryl: we are number one, release we will be according to the iea reported by 2020 the u.s. will overtake saudi arabia and russia as the world's number one oil producer. growing supplies of crude dudes the controversial practice of tracking as the reason for the u.s. claiming the number one spot. dennis: let's get reaction in a check on where oil is trading now from phil flynn as a fox business contributor. >> who said we cannot drill our way to energy independence? we are doing it with fracking and it is driving prices lower. probably not because of this because people in the industry have known this is coming for some time but today oil prices

down a little bit after lessening of concerns and little bit about what was going on with the global economy. under pressure in recent weeks, concerns of economic growth. down a little bit today because of concerns going on. prices have been the one that have been hired today. concerns about the buzzard oilfield has gone down, kept rises up. gasoline strong one in the energy complex today. back to you. dennis: i love fracking. thank you, phil flynn. >> thank you, sir. cheryl: say it ain't so. the end of the twinkie, cohost, wonder bread, this is a bad situation. dennis: and "skyfall" skyhigh open. new details ahead.

speak on tracy byrnes with your fox business brief. wall street has lingering concern about the fiscal cliff weighing on the market. the dow was only up about four points. meanwhile investors are driving up shares today. the car rental company agreed to sell some of its airport locations across the u.s. in a

bid to win it with cory approval for the proposed purchase of dollar thrifty. the current tender offer for $2.6 billion deal expires november 15. a new survey suggests this giving turkey will cost a few more dollars this year. the presbyter give price of tur% from a year ago. on average fixing the meal cost just under $50. this latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper. oods' firs. and his new boss told him twongs -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and me from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, nde'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from tdmeritrade.

can i still shia gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. dennis: cue music, is this the end for twinkies? the bakers union striking plan to make twinkies, hohos, ding dong's, wonder bread, if the bakers strike you hav would havt down the entire company.

he has pushed through a restructuring plan that wipes away stupid rule of pay levels, retirement funding, even teamsters have approved it. the biggest unions have walked. next mood to be to down permit the plans directly affected by the strike. cheryl: a fun and very hard other food companies would let the brand of hostess whither away. there has to be somebody who wants to come in and say we will take that, some wonder bread. dennis: it is along with the brand makes it extremely hard to top it up and sell it. cheryl: dennis will be joining me on "countdown to the closing bell" to talk to the hostess ceo. dennis: that is exclusive. home builders are pulling back, senator smith joins us now with the details in today's "the trade."

>> sum up triple digits, but don't fret because we had a couple of bad earnings reports today, here is the s&p 500, your biggest laggers, the top 10 laggers. you definitely have a couple of home builders making of the worst performers in the overall stock market today. and here is a major home builders so far year, this is the etf of homebuilders up 70%. here's the chart, a big performer, the s&p homebuilders etf up more than 50% this year, so huge momentum. a couple of reports out today. getting hit at 15%, analysts still say it is a buy. the news is still good, on that one as well as dr horton whose gains have been up triple digi digits, the stock getting hit more than 3% today. profits were up, home sales up, home closing numbers were up.

just concerned the stocks have gotten a little crazy with the news coming in overall from the homebuilders is still good, that is why they are still saying own them even when you have down days like this is a buying opportunity. dennis: stocks now. nicole, three points in the green. thank you for that. nicole: let's get crazy. not really, but you are back in the green. showing the market is trying to make a go of it tried to hold the current levels after selli selling. 300-point day last season, some heavy volume. some complaining about the fact you have light volume which could bring volatility and also doesn't bring too much conviction to a particular market.

that does not mean we don't have story stocks we are following like sherman williams. getting food to people trying to rebuild their homes after hurricane sandy, privately held mexican company. $2.3 billion in cash including debt to boost distribution. back to you. dennis: thank you. cheryl: it is time for your "west coast minute." it is the trustees at california state university says to review a commercial plan to charge students who stay past four years for her dollars per semester. they said if he would let them admit an additional 18,000 students but opponents it doesn't account for hardship or change majors. so much for the five-year plan. los angeles lakers have a new coach. government have signed former new york knicks coach mike d'antoni to a multiyear deal worth $12 million. former coach phil jackson had been rumored to be in line for the deal for the "l.a. times" said he was asking for part

ownership of the team to return. '80s rock band def leppard setting up semipermanent residency in las vegas. british rockers fresh off the "rock of ages" movie. that is your "west coast minute." think we should go to a live show. dennis: let's do it. the biggest opening ever for a james bond film, talking 50 years and 23 movies. "skyfall" hauling a $90 million over the weekend, half billion dollars market worldwide. critics are calling it the best bond film ever with a great cast, dramatic death of a key character and too many shots at daniel craig. cheryl: i disagree, times are changing. a hot guy, totally changing the

franchise, bring it on. dennis: become the biggest bond film of all time. about to go way over that. cheryl: he has really changed that franchise. dennis: it was terrific. cheryl: new york is living without homes, power and gas two weeks after hurricane sandy. we will be live in one hard-hit community. dennis: and to take a look at some of the winners on the nasdaq.

dennis: residents of far rockaway in queens, new york, see no end in sight after two weeks without heat and power. now being told they will likely wait until after thanksgiving before they can go back. speak over at st. francis church which is command central in the form of clothes and food for the residents of belle harbor, rockaway. a community with a lot of first responders, cops and firemen. we have the marines and the national guard going on a door to door search and rescue mission to get people out who need help because he powers up with a majority of homes in the area, dennis. the private sector really stepping up, the red cross showed up to give out meals.

they just have a truck parked up the block and tetanus shots being handed out. and we're standing here with donald o'sullivan, he owns the construction. >> i guess we came out here that saturday and it is chaotic, i was in haiti after the earthquake and i felt this place was a bigger disaster than haiti. up into buildings, sand everywhere, like on the streets. >> how many of your guys are here working? >> 150 sunday, the response was very poor.

no place for people to eat, no place for people to get warm. the water was cold, so set up a warming tent, we arranged 20 crews t20cruised around and cle, we have been here all week. we were down here 9/11, little bit down there, not as much as here. we are with one of the few peoe here right now. >> we will be giving live updates throughout the day in belle harbor. i want to point out this is the anniversary of when the jumbo jet crash and the community after 9/11, so they have been hit pretty hard but communities that don't see themselves as victims. they really want to be a symbol for the resignation of they can bring themselves back and doing a lot of it without government help. the red cross is here, we have the navy and marines and national guard.

cheryl: president obama and the republicans digging in over whether tax hikes should be proposes a deal to oppose a fiscal cliff. dennis: is that a good idea to begin? advice from a leading conservative commentator. coming up next.

dennis: fix the cliff or stocks could have a really far tumble. >> there is a lot going on. it will survive. we will see you at 3:00 p.m. eastern time. lori: twinkies never